Bayern Munich will be looking to make inroads in the Bundesliga and leapfrog SC Freiburg into second place when they come face to face at the Allianz Arena in Munich on Sunday. Bayern have only won four of their nine matches so far and are fifth in the table while the visitors are second with five victories in nine games and have the opportunity to even climb to the top of the table if they are able to pull off an unlikely win and stun Bayern at their own backyard.
Bayern Munich are arriving into this clash on the back of a Der Klassiker with Borussia Dortmund last weekend. They seemed to be back on track going into that mega clash given that the Bavarians had scored nine goals with no response in two victories against Bayer Leverkusen and Viktoria Plzen.
Everything seemed to be going well as the defending German champions were 2-0 up thanks to strikes from Leon Goretzka and Leroy Sane. However, Borussia Dortmund stunningly pulled things back through Youssoufa Moukoko and Anthony Modeste grabbing decisive goals, with the latter scoring the equaliser in the fifth minute of injury time after substitute Kingsley Coman had been given his marching orders for a second bookable offence.
Because of the disappointing result, Julian Nagelsmann’s men have missed out on the opportunity to reduce the distance between them and Union Berlin leading at the top of the table. The latter extended their lead to four points with a 1-0 win over VfB Stuttgart last weekend instead.
Freiburg are currently sandwiched two points in between them, meaning Bayern can move second should they return to winning ways on Sunday, which would extend their unbeaten run against Christian Streich’s side to 13 matches.
Bayern Munich, meanwhile, have already secured qualification for the Round of 16 stage of the UEFA Champions League after getting the better of both Barcelona and Inter Milan. They defeated Viktoria Plzen 4-2 in midweek and this is the 15th consecutive season that they are qualifying to the knockout rounds of Europe’s most elite continental competition.
Given the positivity surrounding the team, Nagelsmann will hope that his team avoids silly errors while facing SC Freiburg because they have more than enough tools and resources to secure a positive result.
With that being said, Bayern Munich cannot afford to take SC Freiburg lightly who look like a transformed unit under the management of Christian Streich. They reached their first DFB Pokal final in history last season when they took on Bayern and also finished inside the top six of the Bundesliga for the first time in nine years.
Although Streich, who has been in charge of the club since 2011, may have been disappointed to see his side lose ground on Bundesliga league leaders Union Berlin after drawing 2-2 away to Hertha Berlin last weekend, but reaching the knockout stages of a European competition for the first time in his tenure on Thursday night would have made up for it.
Breisgau-Brasilianer, as the club is fondly known by its fanbase, were mesmerising and successfully defeated Nantes 4-0 away from home in the Europa League, with Lukas Kubler, Michael Gregoritsch and Jeong Woo-yeong all on the scoresheet during the rout.
With his side only requiring one point from their final two games to top Group G and advance to the last 16 of the Europa League in the process, their long-serving manager can almost solely focus on domestic matters between now and the World Cup starting next month.
While the 57-year-old will be keen to keep his players’ feet on the ground, they will have no fear when arriving in Munich to take on the reigning champions at the weekend, with any positive result set to be used as more proof of their progress given their relatively poor record against the Bavarians in recent years.
FCB vs SCF, Bundesliga 2022/23
Date: 16th October, 2022
Time: 11:00 PM IST
Venue: Allianz Arena, Munich
FORM GUIDE:
Bayern Munich Bundesliga form:
- D-D-D-L-W-D
Bayern Munich form (all competitions):
- W-L-W-W-D-W
SC Freiburg Bundesliga form:
- W-W-D-D-W-D
SC Freiburg form (all competitions):
- W-D-W-W-D-W
HEAD-TO-HEAD:
Bayern Munich wins: 28
Draws: 6
SC Freiburg wins: 1
TEAM NEWS:
Bayern Munich Team News:
Kingsley Coman’s red card in the last fixture will see him missing this clash due to suspension while Bayern will also miss the services of Lucas Hernandez and Bouna Sarr with a groin and knee injury respectively.
Alphonso Davies, Serge Gnabry, Manuel Neuer, Matthijs de Ligt and Jamal Musiala were all unavailable for the trip to Czech Republic in midweek, and it remains to be seen how many of them are able to recover in time to face Freiburg at home on Sunday.
It is being reported that both Davies and Gnabry participated well in the recent training sessions without any hiccups and their route to recovery is smooth and they may enter the squad here. However, the fate of the other three appears to be touch and go as of now.
Benjamin Pavard may have to deputise in central defence once again, with Sven Ulrich starting between the posts.
SC Freiburg Team News:
Freiburg, meanwhile, will travel without Kimberly Ezekwem due to a muscle strain, while Manuel Gulde, Roland Sallai and Daniel-Kofi Kyereh are all injury doubts.
As such, the Freiburg manager may opt to utilise three central midfielders in order to compress the space against their more talented opponents, with Yannick Keitel, Maximilian Eggestein and Nicolas Hofler potentially making up the visitors’ engine room.
Bayern Munich possible starting lineup:
Ulrich; Mazraoui, Pavard, Upamecano, Davies; Kimmich, Goretzka; Sane, Muller, Gnabry; Mane
SC Freiburg possible starting lineup:
Flekken; Sildillia, Ginter, Lienhart, Gunter; Eggestein, Hofler, Keitel; Doan, Gregoritsch, Grifo
Predictions:
Bayern Munich’s recent injury woes to their best players may open the door for Freiburg to secure an unexpected and positive result against the defending champions away from home. However, their chances appear slim given the sheer quality that Bayern possesses all over the park even without several regulars.
The visitors, on the other hand, have had a kind fixture list so far compared to several other sides. As a result, it may not be surprising if they find themselves outclassed by the defending champions at times, especially after Nagelsmann’s side were able to take their foot off the gas away to Plzen on Wednesday evening.
Bayern players will be recharged and rejuvenated for this fixture and they will be looking to get their league campaign back on track with a victory over Freiburg here.
